I head out 4-6 days a week, depending what I have on, with a long run/walk on one or two of those days. My walking speed is 7km/h; my last long walk was 14km in two hours. My top running pace is 12km/h, and I can sustain that for 15-20 minutes, but a comfortable jogging pace for long distances is more like 9.5-10km/h.

I'm up to running/walking about 17km at the moment, about 60 percent walking, 40 percent running, with the goal of building that to 20km by the end of the month. The marathon is May 3.

In addition to running and walking I'm also doing a bit of cross-training (short cycles on the gym exercycle and twice-weekly boot camp classes).

These are not the ingredients of a satisfying marathon experience. The phrase "snapped ankle tendon" is a big red flag. That sounds severe. Are you recovered from that sufficiently? I presume you didn't finish that half marathon. Do you have other half marathon experience?

What is the cutoff time for the marathon? Because your current fitness level would put you well beyond 5 hours. That's cool if you have a solid run/walk strategy that gets you there injury free. But overall it sounds like you are starting from a point of high risk and low endurance. Can you switch to the half marathon for May? Stay healthy.

My 2c is to really think twice about doing the marathon. 42K is a heck of a distance. Especially as you have been unable to train 100%. Are you even walking/running 42K a week? If you go ahead you could aggravate your injury which would mean more time off(been there).

I would wait until you are fully recovered where you can dedicate 12-18 weeks to follow a marathon training plan.

I am no pro by any means but I pulled a tendon last year and there was no way I would even consider what you are and you are saying "snapped ankle tendon". I can't even imagine. It took my pulled tendon a very very long time to heal. I don't know how your are doing what you are now...

**Training for my 1st marathon in May 2014 (OMG what have I done...)**

First, you might make sure your recent injury allows you to train at this volume.

Second, even if that injury is no longer a concern, you might consider whether you're risking new injury by spending too much time doing such slow training.

You should of course do what you want. But I don't see the point in marathoning unless you can run (meaning actually run, not shuffle) the vast majority of the distance. If not, why not start with shorter distances?

Thanks for all the feedback, I appreciate you all taking the time to offer advice. You're all right, of course, I am starting from a point of high risk and low endurance (no, I didn't finish the half-marathon, dark_streets, was gutted as my time would have been good), and I'm slow and the sensible thing would be to give myself more time to train so that next year I can run a full marathon.

Which I hope to do. I know it's not realistic to run the whole thing this year.

But I am going to do it this May as a walk/run combo. I did some serious thinking after reading everyone's comments and started doubting my decision, but then I went for a 17km run/walk (which took me two hours so yes, I'm still slow) and felt pleased with myself afterwards. Till now I've felt like I've been walking with a bit of running thrown in, but now I'm the other way round. I have a very good base fitness level to start with so I'm finding I'm able to increase my distance pretty quickly. So I decided to go ahead. I know my limits and I'll stick within them.

My plan is to run half and walk half, and if that takes me 5 1/2 hours, so be it. I don't know what the cut-off time is, but it's somewhere above seven hours, because I've walked the entire thing before and it took 6 3/4 hours and I was well within the time limit; plenty of people finished after me.

I'm confident I can do it because 1) I have before, five years ago, and I'm fitter now than I was then, even with the current injury. 2) I trained for a shorter period last time and this time I have a much better idea of what's involved and I'm taking it much more seriously.

3) The snapped ankle tendon sounds nastier than it actually was, Bobruns. It was bad, and I'm still having physio, but from what the physio tells me a pulled tendon is actually worse than a snapped one. She knows I'm doing the marathon and is behind me all the way because she knows I'm not over-training.

4) I'm very determined. I've signed up, paid the fee and committed to the work team doing it with me. I'm not one to back down from a challenge.

I'm not going to go overboard and run all the way when I know I can't, but I am going to finish.

I'll keep you all posted on how it goes. Thanks again for the feedback.

Hey it sounds like you are being honest with yourself and taking everything into consideration when making your decision, even if it is not the path others would choose, So, I wish you the best. Give us an update after the race.

Jaylee... I just wanted to offer my experience. In 2011, I ran a marathon on 39-58 km/week and it was honestly one of the toughest experiences I've ever had. I bonked 24 km into the race, and walked/shuffled the rest of the way to finish in 4:50ish and was generally in a lot of pain. Also, I hurt my calf muscle during the race and had to spend about six months recovering from it. If it had been my first marathon, I almost certainly would not have done a second one.

If the question were, "should I run a marathon in 11 weeks?" my answer would be that, for myself, I would probably recommend doing a half instead and planning on a marathon when your injury is completely and totally healed, and you can consistently run at least 64 km/week.

Since the question is "am I training properly?" I'll offer the following advice:

1. If you can increase weekly distance without injury (no more than 10%/week), that would help. Don't be too concerned about running it or walking it. Just covering the distance on foot any way you can is better than nothing.

2. Spending more time cross training (biking, aqua jogging, elliptical machines, spin classes, cross country skiing, ice skating are all supposed to be low-impact), is probably a good way to increase your fitness without aggravating your injury recovery process.

3. Keep having a positive outlook. You sound very determined, and in the end that counts for a lot.

The earth is certainly vast and broad, though a man uses no more of it than the area he puts his feet on. (Chuang Tzu)

I don't think run/walking your marathon is as farfetched as some of the others do. This isn't your first and you've been running more than a couple years. It's not that much different from what I did last year as a step in training for my first ultra. I came off my indoor track season where I was running about 50 km per week training for 800m and the mile. After the end of the season and a short break in training I spent two months working primarily on increasing my long run using a run/walk technique. While it was not easy, I was able to increase my long run from about 12km to 33km and my weekly average to 60 km. The marathon was by far the most difficult of the 16 that I've run, but it was also on the smallest base I've ever had for a marathon.

Thanks for understanding. I feel a bit ungrateful asking for advice and then not following it. But it has helped. Will definitely do a post-race update.

I do think you're choosing a strange path (I'd like to know more before gauging how risky), but you shouldn't feel ungrateful at all. It sounds like you're considering the feedback, which is all you're obligated to do. You're still free to make your own decisions!

Thanks wcrunner, nice to know I'm not completely crazy. I feel like I'm on track, with the distance training, at least. Last week I walked/ran 49km and so far this week (starting Monday) I've done 20km. I'll clock up at least 30km between now and next Monday. I'm managing to keep to a 9-9.5km/h pace, which isn't fast but next week I'll start some speed training.

The main thing is I believe in my ability to get to the finish, even if I have to hobble. And that counts for a lot. As does having a good support crew and knowing the course. Having done this same marathon before I know exactly where I'll be able to run and where I'll have to walk, so I can train accordingly.

Just rereading these posts and marvelling at how far I've come. The marathon is just under a month away. I'm now running 30-33km once a week, as well as two or three shorter runs of 10 or so kms. I can comfortably run at 10km an hour now, a big improvement on the 9-9.5 I was running before, and I can keep that speed up for a good couple of hours. Last week I had a dream run, did 33km in 3:14:00 - very happy with that.

Also, when I last wrote I was running 20-30 minutes in every hour and walking the rest. Now I walk five minutes or less. My ankle is much better and I'm thrilled with my progress,

So my question now is, based on my time last week, am I being realistic to think I can finish the marathon in 4 1/2 hours, rather than the five I was aiming for originally?

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